Tag: closed

I permanently closed my store a month and a half ago, the day that we flew to America for the summer. It wasn’t an easy decision, but it was something that needed to be done. Everyone asks why I closed; there are many reasons for this decision. My all encompassing answer is: it’s time for me to start a new chapter. My store had become a destination spot for Purim costumes (here in Israel), my customers came from all over Israel to find the next great costume for their children. Some of my customers had collected every costume design that I had made and came back each year to find a new ones.

my design studio

Purim was “my big season”, like the Christmas season is in other places. I always carried a big selection of costumes throughout the year, but the rest of the year I also made things for children like, bear blankets, quilts, bear bibs, toys, puppets and dolls (you can see samples of these things in my website: press portfolio in the menu). People told me that they came to my store when they wanted to buy something special. The handmade things that I made brought back memories for many people; I spent a lot of time listening to the stories of things that other peoples’ grandparents and parents had made for them when they were young. We ended our visits all warm and fuzzy. Every day I picked up the girls from school (just down the street from the store) and they would come back with me, do their homework and end up playing with the toys, costumes and props in the store. I would finish my day and the girls and I would all walk home together. The hardest part of closing the store was packing everything up. It wasn’t the five years worth of fabrics, sewing machines, and “stuff” that I had collected, but things that the girls left behind. There were little notes taped everywhere for me to find that said “mama I love you!”. I found so many ” art projects” that they had made while I was working. There were height charts of the girls and their friends from years of past costumes and clothes that I had made for them and I found little, hidden scribble drawings in out of the way places of hearts and flowers and stick figures of the girls and I.

my sewing room

I learned a lot of things from my store like:

how to speak Hebrew (albite not very well)

the ins and outs of running a business

how to deal with employees and customers (not easy)

location is everything

have a good relationship with quality suppliers

a lot more about fabrics, sewing and pattern making

how to set up and do photo shoots and most importantly

I learned the importance of loyal customers: to those people who came to visit me to “just see what’s new” over and over again, who brought their friends to see the store, who gave me lots of ideas and most importantly to those people who praised my work, who gave me inspiration and really appreciated the work that I do…THANK YOU!

My store front

So if you know my work and you’re wondering what I’m doing, keep checking this site for updates. If you want to buy something I’ve made, look in my website and press shopin the menu. Currently I’m trying to re-adjust to being back in Israel, prepare for the new school year, trying to unpack and organize soooooooooo many boxes and trying to get back into the swing of art.

Welcome to my blog!

Here I talk about my artistic life; many things around me affect what I create or photograph and I’d like to share my thoughts and techniques with you. You can find many needle felting tips and free tutorials throughout the blog.
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